2.06.2013

DYI: Framed Wine Corks

This little craft has been sitting on the back burner of my mind for 3.5 years. Which actually seems ridiculous when I type it, but I can tell you despite waiting an exorbitant amount of time for it to come to fruition was totally worth it!
I started collecting wine corks when I turned 21 I knew I wanted to make a cork board but I had some parameters :
1. It needed to be 16x20
2. I needed to find the PERFECT frame
3. I wanted all the corks to be from bottles I consumed or was present when they were consumed.

For several years there were wine corks EVERYWHERE in my house. Mason jar after mason jar full of these little buggers. Finally they all found a home in a large apothecary jar slowly building in numbers. In total after 3+ years of saving my total reached 120 (the math comes out to be around a bottle a week... thanks for the math Whit, but that doesn't count the screw tops and boxes #classy).

I picked the frame up in Canton (see posts about there here and here) for a STEAL... really I think the heavens opened and a chorus of angles sang hallelujah when I laid my eyes upon this beauty. I had an old man who claimed to be an "artist" follow me around for 20 minutes trying to buy it off of me, but when a chorus of angles sings hallelujah you can just sell it off like that... can't disappoint the angels.

Anyway onto the actual DIY parts. I won't give you the traditional steps because I sure hope yall can cut and glue ... if you can't SHAME on your kindergarten teachers! Instead I will give you some tricks I learned through this process!

Tip 1: Cut the corks in half. You'll get more corks with out visits to your local AA meeting.

Tip 2: Buy a new utility knife or blade. The rusty blade that has been sitting in the garage for 20 years isn't going to cut it (pun intended).

Tip 2. Keep pairs together. I tried mixing and matching the different halves of the corks, but it ended up looking like a hot mess... which is probably how I looked after I drank most of these bottles, but lets keep that between you and me.

Tip 3. Use corks of varying sizes, shapes and materials. I chose to use corks I had collected over the years, but if you buy them from a craft store or online (here) I would opt for the mixed bag option. In my opinion the varying corks add to the aesthetic appeal!

Tip 4: LAY OUT YOUR PATTERN COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU GLUE.

Seriously. I glued the first row while I laid it out BAD IDEA. Look at the two corks on the end... clearly that didn't work. I ended up being able to fix it, but can you imagine 120 bottle of wine down the drain.

GASP. Horrid, horrid thought.

Tip 5. I really think the hardest part of this whole project is not the gluing but what to glue with. I ended up using Titebond III after some exhaustive research AKA googling while in the glue aisle of Lowes. I found that for 90% of the corks this glue worked great. The other 10% decided to be divas and needed some hot glue to help them out. In the end I was very happy with Titebond.

And there you have it a beautiful display of three years of grueling work (HA!) turned into a masterpiece

My mom made these for our office growing up. She would collect the corks from family gatherings and events, and when you have a family as huge as mine, it doesn't take long. ;) I'll have to ask her where she got the frames, because they were nice and deep, so she didn't have to cut the corks in half. (Total time-saver, I would assume!)

I LOVE it! I always love wine cork projects - I wonder if there is a place to buy wine corks because I don't have that many! someone said to go ask olive garden and I keep forgetting about that. nice job!glad your three years of work paid off. :)

I'm loving the cork board! I really like that you pointed out to keep the halves together for a more cohesive look... something I definitely would never have thought of!

In the future, if you ever want to do another cork project, you can always ask a favorite local restaurant to keep corks for you. I'm a bartender and we do it for fellow employees and guests all the time.

I'm loving the cork board! I really like that you pointed out to keep the halves together for a more cohesive look... something I definitely would never have thought of!

In the future, if you ever want to do another cork project, you can always ask a favorite local restaurant to keep corks for you. I'm a bartender and we do it for fellow employees and guests all the time.